Dovima with Elephants is a photograph made by Richard Avedon in August 1955 at the Cirque d'Hiver in Paris, showing the model Dovima, born Dorothy Virginia Margaret Juba, in a floor-length black evening gown by Christian Dior, the first dress designed for the house by Dior's new assistant Yves Saint Laurent, posed with her arms outstretched between two circus elephants. Published in the September 1955 issue of Harper's Bazaar, the image became an immediate touchstone of fashion and photography alike. Avedon later said that seeing the elephants under a huge skylight, he instantly knew he had to find the right dress to realize the dreamlike picture he had in mind; a print of the photograph sold at auction in 2010 for just over one million dollars.
Facts
Year Created LocationLocation of the 1955 shoot; surviving prints are held across multiple collections, no single owning museum confirmed. Connections
Sources
1. Dovima (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationBiography section
taken at the Cirque d'hiver, Paris, in August 1955, became an icon and sold for $1,151,976 in 2010.
Genre reference
Dovima with Elephants is a photograph made by Richard Avedon in August 1955 at the Cirque d'Hiver in Paris, showing the model Dovima, born Dorothy Virginia Margaret Juba, in a floor-length black evening gown by Christian Dior, the first dress designed for the house by Dior's new assistant Yves Saint Laurent, posed with her arms outstretched between two circus elephants.
View the Source 2. List of Photographs Considered the Most Important (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundationtable row, Medium columnQuote, table row, Medium column
Gelatin silver print
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